Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson mulls possible veto on newly passed budget
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson mulls possible veto on newly passed budget
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson faces a big decision on whether to veto a budget that was passed by the City Council over the weekend.
CHICAGO - Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing a big decision about whether to veto the budget passed by the City Council over the weekend.
What we know:
The mayor is holding all the cards close to his vest and was not expected to meet with the media until Tuesday morning, when he may reveal his decision.
On Saturday, the City Council approved the remaining budget items with a 30 to 19 vote, actually gaining one vote from the day prior when they passed the revenue portion of the budget, without Johnson’s controversial corporate head tax.
That voting bloc is just four votes away from a veto-proof majority of 34.
"We have to create a synergy in this city to bring businesses back into this city," said Ald. Anthony Beale (9th Ward). "Businesses are the ones that make this city grow. We have to grow jobs and opportunity. We can't keep hitting businesses over the head saying don't come to Chicago."
The big difference between the alders’ plan and the mayor's plan was not including the corporate head tax. And that's despite the mayor attempts to put it back in at the 11th hour.
The budget the council passed includes a cloud computing tax, a higher plastic bag fee, debt collection reforms and video gaming in bars and restaurants.
Behind the scenes, there are lots of politics at play.
The Chicago Teachers Union has spent campaign money supporting the mayor, but business groups have lobbied hard for the alternative budget, which has led some mayoral allies to call out one of the top donors to that group, former Rahm Emanuel advisor, Michael Sacks.
"It was really shameful to see what transpired on Saturday when a group of alderpersons taking cues by billionaire Michael Sacks," said Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward). "And I just want to be clear in detail on this billionaire agenda, especially those billionaires who governed during Rahm Emanuel years. 300,000 Black residents have been displaced from the city of Chicago during this neoliberal nightmare."
Sacks is a major funder of a PAC called Common Ground, which has been responsible for ads you might have seen all weekend that have implored the mayor to sign this budget.
They might meet after Christmas to consider this if the mayor does veto it, but we expect to learn more on Tuesday.